Tremaine Wilbourn is seen inside of Judge Lee Coffee's courtroom on Oct. 29. Wilbourn was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the slaying of Memphis police officer Sean Bolton in 2015.(Photo: Brad Vest/The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

Tremaine Wilbourn was sentenced by a jury Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the murder of Memphis police officer Sean Bolton.

The verdict was read by Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee after Wilbourn had been expelled from the courtroom following an outburst over closing arguments at the end of his sentencing hearing Tuesday morning.

He will be forced to return to court Dec. 17 for sentencing on carjacking and weapons charges, Coffee said.

The jury was given the option of life in prison, life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. It took them nearly two hours to reach a verdict on Wilbourn's sentencing.

Brian Bolton, Sean Bolton's family released a statement through the Memphis Police Department.

"Nothing can bring Sean back to us but we take comfort in the fact that his murderer can never cause harm to anyone else in our community," the statement read,

In the courtroom for the verdict was MPD Director Michael Rallings, along with other members of the department's leadership.

"I think the judge said it best, that you know, hopefully this brings the family some sort of closure. But also, hopefully, it brings the Memphis Police Department closure," Rallings said.

Jurors see a photograph of slain Memphis police officer Sean Bolton during the first-degree murder trial of his alleged killer, Tremaine Wilbourn. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.(Photo: Linda A. Moore)

Despite their client's behavior in court, defense attorneys Juni Ganguli, Laurie Hall and Lauren Pasley were happy with the verdict that spared Wilbourn's life.

"We're happy. We overcame a lot of adversity from a lot of angles, we worked really hard and saved a man's life," Ganguli said.

"We put our heart and soul in this and we got a just verdict."

They also credited the work of Hall, the mitigation specialist, with detailing Wilbourn's chaotic childhood, inadequate parenting with an absent father and a mother, Andrea Martin, who was frequently arrested and bounced in and out of his life. She is now on parole in Louisiana.

Hall also showed the jury that after Wilbourn was released from federal prison, he was diagnosed with depression with psychotic features and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"And of course,, there's no substitute for having the defendants family, his loved ones, come in and speak to the jury about mitigating factors that may apply in a death penalty case," Hall said.

Key was testimony from Sandra Richardson, the paternal biological grandmother of one of Wilbourn's half-brothers, who raised all of Martin's children, but didn't get custody of Wilbourn until he was 12.

“We are grateful to the jurors for listening carefully to the disturbing facts of this case and returning a just verdict,” said Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich in a statement. “Officer Bolton bravely served and protected his country and his community, and for that we are all in his debt. There are no words to express what his loss means to his family, to his fellow officers and to the city.”

Prosecutors in the case, Alanda Dwyer and Reginald Henderson, were also satisfied that justice was served. They were joined in the case by Leslie Byrd.

On Sunday, Wilbourn accepted an offer of life without the possibility of parole and a waiver of his appeals, which the Bolton family rejected.

They were not necessarily pushing for the death penalty, Dwyer said.

"They wanted the jury to make the decisions. They didn't want to make it for themselves," she said. "And given his attitude during the whole proceeding, it was clear that he was not a bit remorseful. So it was something that the jury should decide."

The jury did consider the aggravating circumstances necessary for the death penalty, that the murder was committed against a law enforcement officer, that Wilbourn had been convicted of another violent felony and that the purpose of the murder was to avoid lawful arrest.

The murder

The jury on Sunday found Wilbourn, 32, guilty of first-degree murder in Bolton's death.

The driver, a longtime friend of Wilbourn's and a marijuana dealer, ran away when Bolton shined a spotlight in the vehicle.

The officer pulled Wilbourn from the passenger seat of the car, and the two scuffled as Wilbourn shouted for onlookers to record the encounter.

He then pushed Bolton away, fired once, then paused before firing 10 additional times. Witnesses testified that they saw Wilbourn back away as he fired on Bolton, who was lying face-down in a driveway. The autopsy report said the former U.S. Marine had been hit eight times.

As offices searched for Bolton after a dispatcher was unable to locate him, resident Christopher Lanier used Bolton's radio to call for help.

Wilbourn carjacked a man, telling him he had just shot a police officer and needed his car.

Courtroom drama

Wilbourn was removed from the courtroom on Tuesday morning after he erupted during closing arguments in his sentencing hearing.

The disturbance began as Dwyer was delivering a rebuttal to the closing arguments from Pasley.

Dwyer said Wilbourn hated police officers and law enforcement, then walked around the defense table to stand over a seated Wilbourn.

"What should be the punishment for hating a particular group of people. Look at him ladies and gentleman. Look at the face of somebody that is filled with hatred. Look at the face of a coward," Dwyer said, pointing to Wilbourn.

"Y'all get this woman out my face," Wilbourn shouted as he turned away from Dwyer.

"Mr. Wilbourn," said Coffee, attempting silence him.

"She called me a coward. You gonna let this woman come and disrespect me," Wilbourn said.

Coffee told him he needed to be quiet if he wanted to stay for the rest of the trial.

"I don't wanna stay for the rest of the trial. I ain't gotta stay for the rest of the trial. Racist ass crap," Wilbourn said, as deputies lead him to a holding cell, while he mumbled something unintelligible about "white folks" and "dummies."

The jury was also hustled out to the jury room.

Meanwhile, his family and supporters left the courtroom as well, creating a disturbance in the hallway following Wilbourn's outburst.

Shelby County Sheriff's deputies from Coffee's courtroom and others nearby herded them to an elevator as they loudly protested the proceedings.

With the jury out of the room, Ganguli moved for a mistrial, saying the state tried to illicit a reaction from Wilbourn that resulted in his removal and "almost a riot outside the courtroom."

What happened in the hallway happened after the jury was removed, and lawyers have a right to move around, Byrd said.

"The state was less than two feet from Mr. Wilbourn and pointing at his face," Ganguli said.

Coffee, however disagreed, listing Wilbourn's "outrageous" behavior from the beginning of the trial, his refusal to take the witness stand when order, his refusal to stand when ordered, speaking when told not to and how he seemed smug and disinterested.

"He's been on the edge, been on the verge all week of doing something silly," Coffee said.

Defendants are not allowed to take advantage of their own misconduct and Wilbourn will not be allowed to control the administration of justice, he said.